


Femslash February: Chlonette Edition

by breeeliss



Series: Femslash February 2017 [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Banter, Domestic, Enemies to Friends, Established Relationship, F/F, Flirting, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Make Outs, Study Groups, Typical Teenage Awkwardness, Typical Teenage Bickering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-02
Updated: 2017-02-09
Packaged: 2018-09-21 13:19:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9550817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/breeeliss/pseuds/breeeliss
Summary: A collection of drabbles and one shots devoted to Chloe and Marinette in honor of Week 1 of Femslash February 2017.2/1 - Snow: In the case where things don't exactly go according to plan, it's always more fun to improvise!2/2 - Asleep: The first time Chloe stayed after school to study in the library, she found Marinette sleeping over her books at a study table near the windows2/3 - Rescue: There's nothing quite like a stunning super heroine coming to rescue you from horribly dull political dinners and whisking you away into the night.2/4 - Matching Outfits: Chloe and Marinette accidentally show up to school wearing the same outfit. A task force is quickly assembled to stop the impending disaster.2/5 - Stars: A quiet moment between two superheroes.2/6 - New Haircut: Chloe decides that it's time for a bit of a change.2/7 - Frenemies: Chloe and Marinette's friendly competitions are always the highlight of the morning.





	1. Snow

**Author's Note:**

> I figured bc this archive is already so devoid of Chlonette fic I might as well post all of my Femslash February fics here :) I'll add tags as I update every day, and I'll include summaries at the beginnings of every chapter so you know what to expect
> 
> oh (hint, hint): there are three more weeks after this. so do check out the other collections i'll be doing with other femslash pairings:

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the case where things don't exactly go according to plan, it's always more fun to improvise!

“Oh, _dammit!”_  


Marinette called out from the kitchen with her mouth full. “What?”

Chloe was standing in front of the apartment windows with her hands on her hips. “Are you seeing what’s outside right now?”

“The sky, hopefully.”  


“ _No!_  I mean what’s in the sky! Come, this is an emergency!”  


She rolled her eyes, left her empty breakfast plate on the kitchen table, and looped around the corner, jokingly mirroring Chloe’s position in front of the window. “What’s the emergency?”

Chloe scoffed and turned to Marinette. “Are you serious right now? You _see_  this, don’t you?”

“Yes, I see it, what’s your point?”  


“What the _hell!?_ That’s my point! _”_  


Marinette’s eyes widened and she laid a gentle hand on Chloe’s shoulder. “Oh my gosh, wait. I’m being so insensitive. Sometimes I forget that you’re so sheltered you’ve never seen snow before. This must be a shock for you.”

Chloe shrugged Marinette’s hand off with a glare while Marinette threw her head back and cackled. “Oh, shut up! That’s not what I meant!”

“Darling, it’s winter time. It’s cold out. It snows. These are all very normal things.”  


“We were supposed to get our hair done today,” Chloe muttered. “I wanted to take you to that Indian restaurant I found the other day, too. We haven’t gone out in forever.”  


Their apartment windows were completely whited out from all the snow that was falling. It was hard to see many of the buildings that were right next to theirs. It was more snow than they’d ever gotten in a while, and she was sure it wasn’t going to let up until later this evening. She wrinkled her nose. “Yeah, I don’t think this is weather to be going anywhere in.”

“You’d think it’d have the decency to warn us in advance when this sort of thing is going to happen.”  


Marinette smirked. “It being the weather?”

“Obviously.”  


“They’ve been talking about this on the news for like three days,” Marinette teased. “You just never check it. But it does look like it’s coming down way worse than they said it would. Doesn’t seem to safe to travel until it calms down.”  


The sight of all her plans being covered up by inches of snow must have started annoying her because Chloe purposefully turned one of the armchairs away from the window and towards the front door before she sat down so that she wouldn’t have to look at it. She even crossed her arms and slung one knee over the other to make her displeasure clear. “I had plans, and they’re ruined....” she grumbled. 

Marinette smiled fondly and moved to settle herself in Chloe’s lap, wrapping an arm over her shoulders. Chloe immediately hugged Marinette around the middle and leaned her head against hers. “We can always try to go out next weekend. I know you’re busy tomorrow. At least it won’t be violently snowing and we’ll have the whole weekend to ourselves. I’ll clear my schedule.”

“Ugh, I’m tired of being cooped up in here though,” Chloe complained. “I wanted to go out with you.”  


Marinette hummed. “We can have a date in here. I’ll cook you dinner.”

“Mmmmm, only if we dress up tonight. With like candles and nice music, the whole shebang.”

“You know, you are surprisingly very cheesy.“

“God forbid I want to wine and dine you! Lord...”  


Marinette pressed a kiss to the top of Chloe’s head and was at least happy to see that Chloe was smiling, but she knew how much Chloe hated having plans cancelled, especially when she went through so much trouble to plan them in advance. Something about having dates cancelled annoyed her even more. Plus, Chloe had a point. It was the holidays and they were both spending most of their time in their apartment to keep out of the cold. It would’ve been nice to get some fresh air even just for a little bit. 

And then Marinette had an idea. 

She shook Chloe’s shoulder and waited for her to look up at her. “Let’s go play in the snow!”

Chloe squinted. “ _What?”_

 _“_ Play! In the snow!” Marinette said excitedly. “We can go out in the front courtyard, we can spend time together, and we get to go outside and enjoy the weather!”  


“Marinette, it’s _shit_  outside!”  


“So?” She hopped out of Chloe’s lap and pulled her out of the chair, leading her to the back of the apartment where their bedroom was. Chloe still sounded too confused to put up much of a fight, and Marinette took advantage of her silence to start digging through her drawers for her thermals. “The snow’s already sticking and there’s at least five inches on the ground. Ah! We can have a snowball fight!”  


Chloe was pressing fingers into her temples. “Darling, we are adults. _Grown_ adults. With jobs. And salaries. And health insurance.”

Marinette sighed pitifully. “I understand what this is. You’re afraid you’re going to lose the snowball fight.”

“I’m not....what the hell, I’m not afraid I’m going to lose the snowball fight. It’s just that it’s a horror show outside, and I don’t want to ruin my new snow boots. Besides, I freaking _rock_ at snowball fights!”  


Marinette turned her back to her. “Debatable...”

Chloe gasped. “ _Excuse me!?”_

“I dunno, babe,” Marinette sung, pulling out her snow boots and rifling through her closet for a warm sweater. “Kinda sounds like you’re overcompensating....”

“You little brat, move over!” Chloe bumped shoulders with Marinette and started throwing sweaters and scarves from her half of the closet behind her and onto the bed. “I’ll have you know, Adrien reigned me the ultimate snowball champion when we were six years old and I _still_  have the medal he made me out of cardboard, so I’m _legit_.”  


“Psh, like that means anything,” Marinette chuckled. “That was almost twenty years ago. I’m afraid you might have gotten a little rusty.”  


Chloe was pulling off her sleeping pants and pulling on her thermals while Marinette layered on two sweaters. “You are so undeniably rude. I will not have you stand here calling my skills into question. You’re an absolute terror.”

Marinette stuck her tongue out. “You love it.”

“Alright. I’ll make you a deal.” It was really hard for Chloe to look imposing when she was wearing that bright yellow bumblebee sweater that Marinette had gotten her as a joke last year -- but always wore and never threw away despite how garish it looked -- but Marinette sobered up and nodded solemnly as she waited for the conditions. “If you, by some God given miracle, manage to beat me, I will.....go to the gym with you.”  


Marinette burst out laughing. “Wait, no, that’s not good enough. You have to come into the weight rooms with me. You can’t just cheat, go on the elliptical for five minutes, and sneak into the Pilates class.”

“You enjoy my impeccable core strength, don’t lie and say you don’t.”  


Marinette rolled her eyes. “Fine. Would’ve loved to have taken you camping so we could’ve gone outdoor rock climbing, but I guess I’ll take the gym.”

“I’m _not_  doing that!” Chloe repeated for the tenth time. “Unlike some people I don’t enjoy dangling by rope from 500 meters up. Plus it’s outside! With bugs, and germs, and animals, and gross shit, and no, and ew, and kill me.”  


“You have safety harnesses. And nature is good for you. We’d be in a cabin with freaking Wi-Fi. It’s healthy for you!”  


“We do not share your death defying extreme sports hobby or your enthusiasm for the outdoors! Let it go!”  


“Like I said,” Marinette grinned. “We’ll work up to it. Also, this coming from the woman who’s literally about to go outside and face the elements with me.”

“My honor is on the line. You have to put up yours too.”  


“Fine, fine,” Marinette groaned. “If you win I will....dress up as Chat Noir for Adrien’s costume party next month.”  


Chloe actually jumped in the air and screamed. “Holy shit, you are so getting your ass handed to you! Adrien bet me a hundred euros you wouldn’t do it, and he is going to look so stupid when he pays me.”

“You two are betting on this?”  


Chloe paused. “....no sweetheart, never behind your back, I love you.”

Marinette gave her a flat look as she pulled her hat on. “Keep talking. You’re gonna be eating ice in a few minutes.”

Chloe yanked on her gloves. “You really underestimate how petty and ruthless I can be.”

“If I’ve handled it for five years, I can handle it now,” Marinette promised. They were both dressed, and Marinette gestured to the bedroom door. “First five hits to the face wins?”  


Chloe finished pulling her hair into a bun and putting her hat on over it. Heaven forbid her hair get ruined because of a snow ball fight. “Child’s play, my dear. This will be over very quickly.”


	2. Asleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first time Chloe stayed after school to study in the library, she found Marinette sleeping over her books at a study table near the windows

The first time Chloe stayed after school to study in the library, she found Marinette sleeping over her books at a study table near the windows. 

Lycée turned out to be a lot harder than Chloe had thought, and trying to keep up with all of her homework without getting frustrated and forgoing it completely was almost impossible. It led to her bringing in half-finished homework assignments or not bringing in any assignments at all since it happened that Sabrina wasn’t in any of her classes this year. Her teachers packed her up with review sheets and extra homework every single day, and she had to use the hour study sessions at the end of every day to finish up all her work before she went home. It was absolutely deplorable stuff, but even her father was putting his foot down about it, which meant she really had no choice this time around. 

She was dragging her feet to the library and looking for a seat when she found Marinette at a study table all by herself. 

Chloe raised a brow. She didn’t really see Marinette much anymore. They were on completely different bac tracks and they were in completely different classes for any subjects they did share. She did occasionally see Marinette in the halls as they walked to their respective classes, but putting in the energy to mess with her was a lot harder now. It wasn’t the same now that they barely saw each other. 

But, apparently Marinette also stayed for the study blocks after school. And apparently she wasn’t faring too well. 

Chloe put her books on a chair two down from where Marinette was sitting. She was passed out on top of her tablet, and her right hand was still clutching the pen she was using to mark up the book they must have been reading for her French Literature class. Chloe reached over to check the page they were on and realized that Marinette was almost as far behind in the book as Chloe was. 

Huh. And she always thought that Marinette was a studious little thing. 

If Marinette was here, it was probably because she needed to be, and Chloe had far too much studying to get done to even bother with being petty. She poked Marinette in the forehead until she jerked up in her chair and rubbed at the cheek that was pressed against her tablet. She turned her head and groggily blinked up at Chloe. “What are you doing here?”

“Same as you probably,” Chloe replied. She shoved Marinette’s book closer to her. “Come on. I don’t need your snoring distracting me.”   


Marinette glared weakly, but other than that she didn’t really rise to the flimsy bait Chloe set up. They both buckled down to work for about an hour, and Chloe left only a couple of minutes after Marinette did. It was the longest they’d ever been in such close proximity to each other without causing a fight. Maybe her father was right and lycée really did make young ladies out of little girls. That or fighting with Marinette really did get old after a while. Especially when school work wasn’t a joke anymore. 

Chloe was having lunch with Sabrina the next day and told her that she saw Dupain-Cheng for the first time since classes started. 

“During the study block?” Sabrina asked.   


“Yeah. Working on Literature homework or whatever. Aren’t you in that class with her?”  


“Yeah, but I didn’t think it was that bad.”  


Chloe frowned. “Didn’t think _what_  was that bad?”

Sabrina shrugged. “I don’t know what’s wrong with her, but she misses a lot of classes. Comes in late a lot. Falls asleep during lessons. Hands in things late or doesn’t hand them in at all. She looks exhausted most of the time, so I guess she’s been falling behind.”

They dropped the subject -- Chloe didn’t want to appear too interested -- but she sort of remembered Adrien telling her something about him having a hard time keeping up with his class schedule. He was always missing classes and coming in late and forgetting assignments too. But Adrien had tutors that filled in the gaps pretty well, so it didn’t seem as if his work or his grades were suffering too much. Plus he had a far better attention span and work ethic than Chloe did, bless his heart. 

But Marinette didn’t have tutors to catch her up. She was probably using the study blocks to catch up on extra and missed assignments too, and even then she couldn’t stay awake. 

They saw each other but did not speak to each other after school for that entire week as they struggled to catch up, and Chloe couldn’t help but feel a little bad for her. Chloe was behind because she couldn’t be bothered to do work half the time. Marinette look like she was sprinting to catch up and falling behind every day. She wondered why on Earth that was, but they weren’t nearly close enough for Chloe to just ask. 

One day, after three akuma attacks that interrupted the flow of the entire day, Chloe found Marinette passed out on the tables again, this time over her writing homework. 

She was starting to suspect that she was a narcoleptic or something. Didn’t she sleep at night like everyone else? What did she do with all the time she wasn’t at school? 

Chloe peeked over at Marinette’s work again, and recognized the assignment as one Sabrina had been working on close to a week ago. She sighed and cursed at herself, doing a quick calculation of how much she was going to regret this. 

She smacked Marinette in the arm and jostled her a couple of times before Marinette woke up again. Marinette looked like she was going to say something, but Chloe promptly cut her off and said, “Come.”

“What?” Marinette blinked.   


“Darling, you’re a week behind on your work, and you’re practically drooling on what little you do have written down. So come on before I change my mind.”  


Marinette hesitated in her seat for a moment, so Chloe merely shrugged and headed for the exit to the library. She was rounding the corner when she heard a chair scrape and Marinette running to catch up with her. “Where are we going?”

“Coffee. I need it, and god knows you should probably hook an IV of it up to your arm at this point.”  


Marinette snorted and Chloe barely caught sight of the dark circles under Marinette’s eyes. “I don’t need coffee, Chloe.”

“You need it like you need a smack in the face. Maybe then you’ll stop sounding so stupid. Hurry up, before they notice we’re gone.”  


Chloe bought two cups of the strongest brew they had, only adding enough cream to it to make it drinkable. Marinette looked like she was going to put up a fight about not paying for her own drink, but Chloe held up a hand and silenced her protesting while she handed off her credit card. 

“You should also do something about those bags under your eyes,” Chloe told her as they snuck the coffee back into the library. “Get some concealer. Better yet, have a facial night and get some sleep. You look an absolute fright.”  


Marinette didn’t even take any of that as an insult. Instead she nodded along and took a huge gulp of her coffee before she sat back down to work. Chloe bit her lip and opened up her own books. Nope. She wasn’t going to care. Marinette wasn’t her business, and she didn’t like Marinette. This was as far as her kindness would go. 

Of course, during lunch the next day, Sabrina handed Chloe a box from the Dupain-Cheng bakery filled with fruit tarts that had a note affixed to the top. _Thanks for the coffee. -Marinette._

She saw Marinette after school that day, wearing some concealer under her eyes, and looking a little fresher faced than she did the day before. She greeted Chloe quietly, and passed her a cup of coffee. “The mask and the makeup was good advice,” she told her. 

Chloe blinked as Marinette dared to offer her a smile before she put her headphones in and started scribbling on her tablet. 

She couldn’t remember the last time Marinette smiled at her without it looking sarcastic or like she was desperately waiting to tell her off. It was....interesting. And different. And probably due to the stress and lack of sleep. Although, Chloe found she didn’t much care what it was or why she did it.

Because a tired Marinette wasn’t a Marinette that Chloe enjoyed seeing. Marinette was always doing something, talking to someone, screaming and being melodramatic over something, and being a star in literally everything. It was abysmally annoying, but it was more troubling to see her not be any of those things. If lycée was going to turn around and throw Chloe for this much of a whirl, she was at the very least going to make sure that the one thorn in her side didn’t go around and change either. 

They settled into a routine of trading off between buying each other coffee every week. Sometimes, Marinette would bring more pastry boxes from home filled with sweets that would keep their attention up, which Chloe heavily appreciated. At first, they were used to just working in silence, but they eventually worked up to the point where Marinette would show her something silly she read in her Literature book or Chloe would complain over the unclear directions her teacher gave while Marinette tried to decode it for her. Sometimes, if Chloe was really feeling nice or hating the sight of Marinette agonizing over an assignment, she’d switch papers with her if it was a subject she was good at. Chloe was a lot quicker with Marinette’s Literature assignments, and Marinette always made quick work of the short paragraphs Chloe had to write for history. It tended to get them out of the library much faster. 

They were three weeks in, and the two of them were, dare Chloe say it, actually civil with each other. 

“Why doesn’t Alya come study with you?” Chloe asked during a short break. “Or anyone else for that matter?”  


Marinette shook her head. “She babysits her sisters after school. Plus she helps her mom around the house. She doesn’t have the time, and I’m not going to ask her to sacrifice all that for me. I don’t want anyone to have to suffer through helping me when it’s my fault I’m behind. Besides, you’ll work in a pinch,” she smirked.”

Chloe stuck her tongue out. “Gee, thanks you brat. Why are you always so exhausted all the time? Beauty sleep is a thing, you know.”

“Busy month,” she said vaguely. “Lots going on at home. And other things...”  


Marinette wasn’t offering much information, so Chloe didn’t feel the need to be nosy. “Well, at least you’re all caught up now. But, lord, sleep why don’t you. You look like a damn ghost. You’re a pretty girl. You shouldn’t look that exhausted.”

“Thanks I guess,” Marinette said.  


“I’m serious,” Chloe said. “Asking for help is a thing. If you’re just going to keep running yourself ragged by keeping to yourself, you’re dumber than I thought.”  


It came out coarser than she thought, but Marinette seemed to have picked the sincerity out of it. “I guess you’re right.” She nudged her ankle against Chloe’s. “But if I promise to start asking for help, you have to promise to work on staying focused.”  


“Meaning?”  


“Meaning you’re smart,” Marinette said. “You’re behind because you get bored quickly, not because you’re not smart enough to do this stuff. You just have to find ways to keep you motivated. Keep your attention going. Then you’ll be golden.”  


Chloe hummed. “Makes sense....”

“How about this?” Marinette offered. “We’re stuck in these blocks for the next month anyway. You kick my ass and make me sleep and ask for help, and I’ll kick your ass and motivate you to focus on your work.”  


“The minute you said “kick your ass” you had me,” Chloe smirked.   


And Marinette actually laughed -- a bright, light-hearted laughter that Chloe didn’t think she’d heard in ages. It sounded foreign and refreshing all at once, and she vaguely realized that _she_  was the one to cause it. 

“Pleasure doing business with you,” Marinette grinned, bringing her coffee cup up for a toast.  


Chloe rolled her eyes, but knocked her cup against Marinette’s before taking a huge sip. 

She was sure it wasn’t going to take much effort to get used to this. 


	3. Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's nothing quite like a stunning super heroine coming to rescue you from horribly dull political dinners and whisking you away into the night.

Chloe was actually going to die of boredom at this dinner party. Seriously. She could feel her brain cells shriveling up, and she was going to end up brain dead way before dessert even came. 

Galas were way more fun. Galas had music, endless supplies of alcohol, balconies to smoke off of, and far more opportunities to dance and flirt with the sons and daughters of the other politicians in attendance. Dinners were tolerable only if she happened to be seated around interesting company or had the opportunity to wax on about her own life for the sake of drawing in the attention. 

But she was currently listening to one of her father’s staffers drone on and on about fiscal responsibility in the coming year and Chloe was two seconds away from stealing the bottle chianti, crawling under the table, and getting drunk alone. The man looked old enough to have fought in the damn French Revolution, and all of this economics talk was going completely over her head. It didn’t help that her father and some young son of another staff member were enraptured with the conversation, leaving Chloe to trace the rim of her wine glass and doze off from the conversation. 

Chloe pulled her phone out of her purse and surreptitiously sent a text. 

> **chloe:** is death by macroeconomic discourse possible? asking for a friend.
> 
> **mari <3: **oh my. dinner’s that bad?
> 
> **chloe:** i’d rather use the melon ballers to scoop out my eyeballs
> 
> **mari <3: **ew :P poor thing. it’s only for an hour more right? you can do it!
> 
> **chloe:** :((((((((
> 
> **chloe:** all these old men are horrible i just wanna cuddle with a beautiful girl and make out with her all night is that too much to ask?
> 
> **mari <3: **huh. sorry. don’t know where you can get one of those. 
> 
> **chloe:** you little brat come save meeeeee >.<

She felt her father nudge her side with his elbow and lean his mouth down next to her ear. “Chloe, please put the phone away and behave.”

Chloe rolled her eyes and whispered back “Daddy, you can count on me to be perfectly pleasant and keep any conversation lively, especially if it’s for your benefit. But to be perfectly frank, this conversation died when the salad got here, and this talk about investments is actively drying out my skin.”

He reached over to squeeze her elbow. “I know these can seem a little dull, but you’ve done this dozens of times. It’s good for you to be in the public eye. We’re almost wrapped up here.”

He melded perfectly back into the conversation, laughing at some horrid joke that someone had just told, leaving Chloe to pout in her seat. Sure she’d been to these dinners before, but before she didn’t have a girlfriend at home patiently waiting for her so that they could spend the whole evening together. Chloe was 1000% positive that whatever Marinette had planned was far more entertaining and pleasurable than whatever this disaster was. 

It wasn’t as if Chloe was technically needed for anything. She was hoping for some excuse to fall into her lap so that she could slip away, but Marinette had conveniently stopped texting her right when Chloe needed an out. Little minx. It was like she _enjoyed_  being home alone and waiting for Chloe to come home. Sneaking out of this embarrassment of a social event was mutually beneficial for them both. Surely Marinette could’ve called and pretended she’d lost her leg in a tragic car accident or something. She was creative enough for it. 

The conversation switched to cuff links and Chloe started eyeing the steak knife sitting next to her plate. 

Maybe she could fake a heart attack. Twenty-three year olds had heart attacks, right? 

Chloe was too seconds away from sacrificing her dress and spilling wine on it for an excuse to go home when her phone buzzed. 

> **mari <3: **go to the bathroom. bring your purse. 
> 
> **chloe:**??? why
> 
> **mari <3: **just do it

Oh well. Better than staying at this table for a second longer. 

She laid a hand on her father’s arm. “I’m going to head to the ladies’ room and freshen up a bit. Is that alright?”

He was distracted by the conversation and simply waved her off. “Of course, darling, don’t be too long.”

Chloe did as instructed and grabbed her purse and her shawl while she walked to the back of the restaurant where the bathrooms were. It was incredibly late and all of the guests had already gone home, but her father was the mayor, so the restaurant stayed open until he and his friends went home. Which meant that the hall leading down to the bathrooms was eerily empty. 

The restaurant they were in was perched on top of a tall building, so Chloe passed the tall windows that overlooked the entirety of the city as she walked to the bathroom like Marinette told her. She was about to suspect this was a trick before she heard a tapping noise to her right. Chloe jumped a foot in the air and whirled her head around before her jaw dropped. 

“Are you fucking _crazy!?”_  


Ladybug giggled and pressed a finger to her lips. She pointed to the latch at the bottom of the window and pouted as she mouthed a cute little please through the glass. Chloe stood frozen for a second before she cursed under her breath and managed to pull out the lock the clasp. She stared down the hall as Ladybug slipped through the window and shut it behind her. 

“Boy!” Ladybug sighed out. “You sure are high up.”  


“Did anyone see you?” Chloe hissed out. “This is not what I meant when I said to save me!”  


“How rude,” Ladybug smirked. “Most people would be pretty excited to have a beautiful super heroine save them from danger.”  


Chloe snorted. “Dangerous dinner parties, you mean.”

“All the same really.” Ladybug peeked over her shoulder at the door to the women’s restroom. She gripped Chloe’s hips and backed her into the swinging door. “I absolutely love you in this dress. You look delectable.”  


They moved into the opulent bathroom and Ladybug reached behind her to fasten the lock behind them just as Chloe pressed her back against the door. “Gee, and I wonder who made sure of that?”

Ladybug smiled sweetly. “What can I say, I know what looks good on you. You really should tell your friends about me.”

Chloe scoffed. “Of course I do. I get hounded at every party I go to.” She cleared her throat. “ _Ah, yes, darlings, a Dupain-Cheng original, truly stunning work, it’s an embarrassment that you don’t already have one in your closets_.”

“Mm, keep complimenting my dresses, it’s very hot.”  


The comment left Chloe laughing for the first time that evening. “That impatient for me to get home, huh?”  


Ladybug chuckled and wrapped her arms around Chloe’s neck. “You know I don’t do well when I’m left all by myself. Besides, it’s my duty as a protector of Paris to rescue woebegone heroines from the tops of very tall towers.”

Chloe’s hands were sliding up and down Ladybug’s hips. “How chivalrous of you...”

“Thank you for recognizing it,” Ladybug winked. She tipped her head up. “You know, in those fairytales, the chivalrous knights usually get kissed by their princesses.”  


“You’re very cheeky tonight.”

“Wonder who I get it from?”  


“I have a few guesses,” Chloe laughed. “But I’m really enjoying it....”  


Ladybug pressed a kiss to the side of Chloe’s neck, and Chloe instinctively sighed out. “I can be cheekier if you want.”

“Oh I _do_  want....”  


Ladybug licked her lips before she yanked Chloe down for a kiss, and it wasn’t until Ladybug was groaning into her mouth that Chloe realized just how desperately she needed to get out of here. It was as if Ladybug knew that Chloe wasn’t going to be going back to that dinner table because she was purposefully pulling out the combs from her hair, letting them drop to the floor, and raking her fingers messily through her up-do until her gloved fingers were hopelessly tangled in her hair. Chloe’s lipstick was probably smudging horribly, but she figured she’d already dipped in this far, didn’t make much of a difference to finish rubbing the rest of it off while she kissed across Ladybug’s jaw. Her fingers were digging into the fabric of Ladybug’s suit as Ladybug bit ever so gently on the skin right above her collarbone, sucking and kissing at the skin until Chloe pulled back with a laugh. 

“You’re gonna leave a bruise there, you brat!”  


Ladybug shrugged innocently. “Good. Now you can’t go back to the table.”

Chloe sighed in exasperation, but couldn’t keep the smile off of her face. “Alright, so how are we doing this?”

Ladybug unlocked the door again, moved them into the hallway, and climbed halfway out the window. “You hang on tight and I whisk us _far_  far away from here.”

Chloe wrinkled her nose. “Fine but no swinging tricks. I’m serious. That made me sick the last time.”

“Fine, fine, you party pooper.” Ladybug pointed to her back. “We’ll take the slow, scenic route.”  


She slipped off her heels, stuffed them into her purse, and carefully climbed onto Ladybug’s back, looping her arms snugly around her neck. “I can’t believe you’re sneaking me out a window, Marinette. I feel like a teenager.”

Ladybug sighed. “Ah, I’ve always wanted to make people feel young again.” She took Chloe’s hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it. “Hold on tight, okay?”

Chloe buried her face in Ladybug’s hair, and grinned against the back of her neck. “Okay.”


	4. Matching Outfits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloe and Marinette accidentally show up to school wearing the same outfit. A task force is quickly assembled to stop the impending disaster.

The moment Alya walked into the school building, she felt a hand curl around her arm and yank her into a custodial closet. Not quite the start to her morning that she had expected. 

She was a little disoriented as a mop toppled onto her head, and it wasn’t until Nino clicked on the light hanging above their heads that she saw Adrien advance on her, grab her tightly by the shoulders, and speak in a grave tone. “Where is Marinette?”

She lifted a brow. “...um, home? She’s awake, but she shows up like five minutes before class since she lives right there.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know she’s awake,” Adrien dismissed. “Listen Alya, this is very important. I need you to call Marinette right now and tell her to change outfits immediately.”  


Alya’s eyes darted towards Nino, but he was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, looking like he was witnessing a serious interrogation with literal lives at stake. She stared back at Adrien, who was still fervently awaiting her reply. She huffed. “Okay, what the fuck is going on?”

“Alya, babe, tell Mari to change,” Nino said simply. “Apparently we’re attempting to avoid the end of the world, and it’ll make no sense for the two of us to call her and tell her this.”  


“What does Marinette’s outfit have to do with the end of the world. Why are we....what the _hell,_  guys?!”  


Adrien lifted his finger in front of her face, pulled out his cellphone, scrolled through Instagram, and flipped the screen towards her. “Please observe Exhibit A.”

It was a picture of Marinette that she posted to Instagram this morning. Black knee high boots. White skirt. Black turtleneck. Pretty basic for a school outfit, nothing out of the ordinary. “Yeah, she takes morning selfies and puts then on Instagram all the time, what’s your point?”

Adrien sighed pitifully, switched screens, and showed her his phone again. Exhibit B.”

Alya squinted at the photo for a moment, and then her eyes widened in horror. “Oh shit...”

“Do you see my point!?”  


She hastily pulled out her phone and started flipping through her contacts to try and call Marinette. “Alright, I’m calling, I’m calling!”

"Too late, dudes,” Nino piped in, staring down at his own cell. “I’ve got her location on my phone. She’s already running to school.”  


Adrien cursed under his breath, tapped around on his phone, and put it to his ear. “C’mon, c’mon, c’mon, c’mon!”

“Marinette!” Alya screeched. “Babe! Turn around! You have to change your outfit! ...Look I _know_  you might be cutting it a little close but you have to trust me....no, you look amazing as always! Just please listen to me.....wait you’re here!? The hell, you’re actually early? Why are you early?”  


“Listen!” Adrien hissed into his phone. “Stop trying to talk over me and just do what I say. When have I ever steered you wrong? I know you put a lot of effort into it but you really need to just -- you’re _in class already?_  Your driver _dropped you off early?_  Since _when!?”_  


_“_ It’s too late,” Alya muttered. “We have to beat Marinette to the classroom.”  


“Are you crazy?” Nino exclaimed. “There’s no way we’re actually -- okay, so we’re actually _running_  to class to stop this?”  


Adrien and Alya were sprinting close to five meters ahead of Nino. “You literally don’t understand how bad this is,” Adrien called over his shoulder. 

“God Marinette is going to die,” Alya said worriedly.   


The three of them rounded the corner dangerously, almost running into a crowd of younger students as they went, and managed to slide into the classroom in only a few seconds flat. They all looked around the classroom frantically until their eyes settled on the scene unfolding in front of the classroom, and they realized that they were already way too late. 

Chloe and Marinette were standing in front of each other, frozen but looking like they were both three seconds away from pouncing on each other and biting the other’s head off. They were both wearing the same outfit: black knee high boots, white skirts, black turtlenecks. 

Everyone in the classroom was dead silent, too afraid to even breathe. 

The tension hung in the air, making the atmosphere around them absolutely suffocating, until Marinette and Chloe screamed at each other at the same time. 

“YOU HAVE TO CHANGE!”  


Chloe’s scoff came out more like a snarl. “Absolutely not, you wench, I was here first.”

“I got _dressed_  first, you brat!” Marinette shouted back. “Look at the timestamps on our Instagrams, I posted my outfit first! Dibs!”  


“That’s not how this works, holy fucking shit. First one here gets to keep the outfit!”  


“First one who _puts it on_  gets to keep the outfit! That’s standard! But figures the precious little socialite wouldn’t know anything about that, now would she?”  


“Your ass is marching back to your house and putting on a different fucking shirt or _something_ , because I am not going through the school day looking like _you!”_  


_“_ Oh, _bite me_ , princess, like you actually think I’m going back home to change. I’m staying right here.”  


“Well _I’m_  certainly not going home, and we are _certainly_  not going to keep being seen like this!”  


“Then go home and change!”  


“You go change!”  


“ _You’re_  changing!”  


“I swear to god I’ll rip that off your back if you don’t go home.”  


“I freaking dare you!”  


Adrien buried his face in his hands. “This is a nightmare...”

Nino leaned over to mutter in Alya’s ear. “I understand the importance of keeping the two of them from fighting, but why is this such a big deal again?”

Alya shook her head and patted Nino on the shoulder. “Tell him, Adrien.”

“It’s all a matter of looks,” Adrien explained. “Marinette and Chloe put a lot of effort into their outfits every morning and want to be recognized for their individuality and be able to stand out from everyone else in the class. The two of them wearing the same thing runs the risk of one of them being outshined by the other. Doesn’t help that the two of them don’t like each other, so I’m sure they both see this as a threat to try and mess with the other. Kind of why it would’ve been nice to stop this.”  


Nino furrowed his brows. “Dude, how do you even know this?”

Adrien rolled his eyes. “It’s like you forget that I was Chloe’s only friend for the first half of her life.”

“Okay, so what do we do?” Nino asked. “They’re just screaming at each other, and class is going to start soon.”

Alya drummed her fingers against her pursed lips and frowned. “Mmmmm, I might have an idea, but it’s half baked and not very well thought out.”

Adrien shrugged. “I’ll take it.”

“Grab the two children and meet me in the drama department. And hurry, the teacher’s going to come in fifteen minutes.”  


Nino and Adrien looked at each other for a moment and shrugged. Chloe looked like she was about to launch at Marinette before Adrien grabbed her hand and started pulling her out the classroom. Nino did the same to Marinette and ignored their protests as they led them into the hall and towards the second floor. Chloe was stamping her feet and trying to drag Adrien back to the classroom with her when Alya snapped over her shoulder. “Will you shut up so that I can help you two fix this? _Jesus....”_

Chloe glared at Alya, but clamped her lips shut as the five of them snuck into the room where all of the costumes, makeup, and sewing machines were kept from past school productions. Alya walked over to the clothing closet, threw the doors, open, and pointed inside. “There. Take your pick. Both of you.”

“Why should we _both_  have to change?”  


“Because even if I flip a coin, one of you is going to be unsatisfied with the results. So you’re both changing.” Alya snapped her fingers. “Chop, chop. Just the shirts will do at this point.” Alya jutted her chin at Nino and Adrien. “You guys wait outside and knock if it’s been more than ten minutes.”  


Adrien saluted. “Yes, mademoiselle.”

Nino chuckled and waved over his shoulder. “Sure thing, Al.”

She waited until the door shut behind the two boys before she leaned against the closet door expectantly. “Come on. Start picking.”

Marinette grumbled something under her breath, but started to flip through the hangers for a blouse that would match her skirt and boots. Chloe was still staring distastefully at the closet, but she finally relented when Alya sent a frigid glare her way. Alya knew that Chloe didn’t have much of a choice but to cooperate if they were going to head back to class on civil terms. 

Chloe picked out a peach cardigan and Marinette found a red crew neck shirt. Better than nothing. 

Alya leaned against her spot against the door and rolled her eyes as Chloe scrutinized the sweater she picked while holding it in between two fingers. “God, I _can’t_  be seen in this.”

“Everything else in that closet smells like at least four different people sweated in them,” Marinette said. “At least that one smells faintly of laundry detergent. So unless you want to smell like the underside of someone’s -- ”  


“ _Alright!”_ Chloe groaned. “You’re so damn annoying, this is literally all your fault.”  


Marinette scoffed. “Yeah, sure, _okay_.”

“No, I’m serious, and I’ll tell you something else, Dupain-Cheng, you have absolutely no excuse....”  


Chloe kept droning on and on about something with Marinette occasionally moving in with biting commentary, and Alya just decided to check the Ladyblog while the two of them changed. Alya didn’t care for Chloe in the least, and she was always happy to back Marinette up and watch her make minced meat of entitled little things like Chloe, but sometimes their fights were just downright petty, and Alya had quickly become an expert at blocking them out. Plus, it really was way too early in the morning for this and she was hoping a fight between the two of them wouldn’t pop up until at least lunch. Oh well. Maybe that meant the rest of the day would go on without a hitch.

She was in the middle of deleting a bunch of troll comments when one of Chloe’s rants was cut off with a high pitched yelp. Alya thought for a second that Marinette had smacked her in the arm or something to shut her up, but the entire room had suddenly gotten dead silent and their fighting had completely ceased. Alya lifted a brow to stare across the room, wondering if Marinette had gagged her with a spare scarf or something. That would’ve been a sight to see. 

Of course what she _wasn’t_  expecting was to see a shirtless Marinette staring in shock at a fully clothed Chloe whose face was currently beet red. 

Marinette and Alya changed in front of each other all the time, so Marinette in a bra wasn’t anything Alya hadn’t seen before. Marinette wasn’t particularly shy about that sort of thing in general anyway. She had no issues changing in front of the other girls for their PE classes. But for some reason, the sight seemed to have shocked Chloe into a stupor, leaving her opening and closing her mouth as if she were trying to say something, but couldn’t convince her mouth to form the words. Marinette of course was looking Chloe up and down as if she had suddenly started malfunctioning, and pressed her shirt up against her shirt self-consciously. She sort of expected for her to be blowing up at Chloe, but instead she looked....nervous. Embarrassed even. Since when was Marinette  _embarrassed_  in front of Chloe?

Alya darted her eyes back to Chloe and smirked when she watched her clear her throat and swallow thickly. 

“W-What are you staring at?” Marinette asked.   


It took a second for Chloe to blink and bring herself back into the moment before she stared down at her feet. “N-Nothing! I spaced out! Nothing!”

“Yes something!” Marinette said, her own cheeks growing a little pink in return and _that_  was certainly interesting. “You were totally staring right at me, you weirdo!”  


“I’m not a weirdo!” Chloe shot back defensively. “I wasn’t looking at you.”  


“Yes you were!”  


“My gaze just happened to fall on you.”  


“What, right on my bra?”  


“N-No! _God,_ no!”

“Ladies!” Alya shouted over the commotion. “Backs facing each other, since you have such issues changing in the same room. Just hurry the hell up, we have to get back soon.”  


They both regarded the other carefully as they turned away from each other and finished changing. Marinette was worrying her lip and darting brief glances over her shoulder to see if Chloe was staring again. Chloe, on the other hand, was muttering something hatefully under her breath, her hands trembling and her cheeks blushing as if she had suddenly grown too flustered to bother causing a fight. There were short moments where Chloe tried to peek over her shoulder as well, but she seemed to sharply catch herself and turn right back to facing forward like she was meant to. 

Alya felt a little smile creep on her face. She didn’t think it was even possible for Chloe to look so darn _ruffled_. 

She covered her mouth to prevent her giggling from escaping. 

_Interesting...._

“Alright,” Marinette announced, showing off her new outfit. “All done.”  


Chloe buttoned up the last button to her cardigan and nodded gruffly. “Me too,” she muttered. 

“Miracles do happen,” Alya replied sarcastically. She wrenched open the door and gestured towards the hallway. “Let’s go.”  


Marinette was chewing on the inside of her cheek and fiddling with the sleeves of her new shirt as she headed for class first. Chloe followed after, rubbing the back of her neck and blinking like something had been caught in her eyes. There was no fighting happening and they were walking on completely opposite ends of the hall as they headed down the stairs. Alya waited until there was a decent amount of distance between them before she nudged both boys and told them to lean in close. 

“What’s wrong?” Adrien whispered. “Did another fight happen?”  


Alya chuckled, her smile of disbelief stretching across her entire face. “No, but five hundred thousand things suddenly just made a whole lot of sense.”


	5. Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A quiet moment between two superheroes.

Queen Bee never seemed to like going home. 

Chat Noir was the first to casually breach the topic. Something about still seeing her meandering around on the rooftops from his window at two in the morning, long after his patrol with her was over. There was one day when Volpina and Queen Bee made a quick exit to detransform in safety, and while Volpina was walking back to school, she saw Queen Bee transformed and sitting on the Arc de Triomph, cloud gazing. 

Perhaps Ladybug was being a tad nosy, but something in her gut told her it was strange that Queen Bee seemed to want to stay transformed for as long as possible, as if she only stayed in her civilian form if she really needed to. Ladybug started insisting on doing patrols with Queen Bee at the ends of the week, and it was more of the same: Ladybug would call it a night, and Queen Bee would insist on saying out longer.   


It never seemed like Queen Bee was _scared_  to head home. More like she was much happier being transformed than not, much happier being Queen Bee than transforming back into whoever she was outside that suit. Chat Noir was like that in the beginning too. He didn’t get much freedom at home, and being Chat Noir was a freedom he didn’t treat lightly. She wondered if Queen Bee was the same. 

It was Sunday night when Ladybug finished her patrol with Queen Bee, and just as she figured, Queen Bee bid her good night and said she’d stay out just a little bit more. 

“Want some company?” Ladybug asked. “It’s a nice night. I could stay out a little longer.”  


Queen Bee blinked at the question and turned her head to the sky. “I won’t be great company. I just wanted to star gaze for a bit before bed.”

Ladybug shrugged and smiled. “I love star gazing! You know, so long as I won’t bother you...”

There was a hesitation in her expression, like she was about to tell Ladybug no, like she wanted to just be left alone. But her lips quirked up just a touch at the corners as she shook her head. “Stay if you want.”

They were quiet as they laid on their backs side by side on the roof, staring up at the sky that was only barely littered with stars. It was always dark on Sundays since most everything was closed, but this late at night was as dark as Ladybug would ever see the city. Perfect night for looking at stars. 

She turned her head to look at Queen Bee who was moving her lips silently like she was talking to herself. She was a curious thing, and Ladybug hadn’t quite gotten her personality down yet. A very eager superhero, excited to get down to work and jump straight into her duties, which was an enthusiasm that Ladybug didn’t share during her first time out as a hero. A little bullheaded in that she liked things done her way and liked to go into situations without much of a plan, but she was generally a very sweet person so long as she was in a good mood. It was almost funny that _hers_  was the worse temper out of the team. Ladybug almost expected Volpina or herself to take that title. 

Queen Bee was a complex person, and Ladybug realized that, despite the two of them being partners, she didn’t really know much about her. 

“Do you do this a lot?” Ladybug asked conversationally. “You picked the perfect night for this.”  


“Sometimes,” Queen Bee muttered. “Have to be in the mood for it. And it has to be a good night. It’s much prettier if you’re in the countryside, but Sunday nights in the city will do.”

Ladybug perked up. “Do you go to the countryside a lot?”

Queen Bee stretched her arms over her head. “My parents used to fight a lot. So when it got bad, my mom would just...get me dressed, put me in the car, and take us on a drive for hours. She’d take us up the countryside, park on the side of the road, get out blankets and sweets and thermoses of coffee and we’d just....lay out on the grass and stare at them.”

She said it all so casually, as if she were just sharing a silly story and not trying to be nostalgic. “Do you still do it?”

“Nah,” Queen Bee said. “Mom left a while ago, and my father isn’t into that stuff.” She smiled and shook her head when Ladybug’s features twisted. “No, seriously, it’s totally fine. I’m not sad about it or anything. But it was a habit we kept up and I like doing it.”  


Ladybug stared at Queen Bee worriedly for a moment before humming and looking back up at the sky. “I have a skylight in my room,” she explained. “I used to tape tracing paper to it, and try to trace out my own constellations. And I’d color them in with paints and markers and stuff and tape them to the ceiling of my room.” She laughed. “I think I took them all down a while ago but I’m pretty sure I saved them. I remember, ah....I had a pancake constellation. And a banana one. And a pineapple one.”

Queen Bee snorted. “Foodie, huh?”

“I was eight, shut up.”

She snorted at Ladybug’s pout and shivered as the wind started to pick up. “I don’t blame you. I could do this for hours. Plus it beats going home or being at school, to be honest.”

Ladybug nibbled on her lip. “Yeah....about that...”

“That’s not like....against the superhero rules, is it?”  


“No not at all!” Ladybug insisted. “It’s just...why _don’t_  you like going home or going back to school? Is....I mean, is everything...okay? Or...”  


She had a feeling she wouldn’t have been able to get away with asking something so forward had Queen Bee not been so fond of her. It may have been unfair to take advantage of that, but Ladybug was burning with concern. Queen Bee frowned at the sky. “It’s not for a bad reason. It’s just....I don’t know, this is preferable, you know?”

“Preferable to what?”  


Queen Bee snorted. “Everything. Being at school, being at home, being anything. Don’t you feel that way?”

Ladybug bit the inside of her cheek. “I mean...it’s freeing, which is definitely fun. And I love being Ladybug. But I actually get tired of this more easily. It’s stressful. Always having to jump into action. Always having to be perfect. To be this...pillar of justice and good decisions. Sometimes I think of....just taking a break from it for a couple of days. Not in a bad way! Just...to rest.”

“Huh,” Queen Bee muttered. “Interesting...”  


“Do you not feel the same?”  


“I mean I get it, but shouldering the duty doesn’t seem so bad when it means you can be the good guy. You get to save people. Save the city. Have people come up to you and thank you. People talk about you over coffee because you’re a hero and a....a good person. And you feel like you’re a part of something bigger. I mean, just being able to talk with you like this makes me feel like I’m a part of something. Which is....new.”  


Ladybug didn’t turn to Queen Bee, but she felt the concern ache in her chest. “Not used to it?”

Queen Bee snorted. “Let’s just say I don’t have a lot of people in my civilian life who are too fond of me.”

She could tell Queen Bee was trying to make it sound casual, but there was no ignoring that bitterness. “What do you mean?”

“Beats me,” Queen Bee answered unhelpfully. “I guess...” She paused, swallowed, and struggled to find the words. “Making....friends. Is hard.”  


Ladybug tried to imagine Queen Bee in her civilian life actually having a hard time making friends or having people who didn’t care for her. She almost wanted to say that it couldn’t have possibly been true. Queen Bee got along well with her, Chat Noir, and Volpina, and she was a brilliantly talented hero with a knack for being able to think quick on her feet and help anyone who needed it. Ladybug considered her a close friend, and like Chat Noir and Volpina, would be thrilled to get to know her as a civilian if it wasn’t a danger to them. 

It was frustrating to not know the civilian behind the hero. Chat Noir still had a lot of hang ups about his civilian life that even Ladybug wasn’t privy to, and he seemed to drop hints that how he acted at home was much different than how he acted around Ladybug out of pure necessity. Ladybug wondered if Queen Bee was in a similar situation. Maybe her suit awarded her a certain anonymity that let her act in a way she couldn’t otherwise get away with in front of people. 

It was....sad. Just like it was sad to see how Chat Noir seemed to jump so readily into his superhero role for a very specific reason. 

Ladybug couldn’t help the sympathy from pouring out. “I’m sorry...”

“Don’t do that,” Queen Bee chided gently. “It’s not your fault. It just is how it is. Besides, being this....” She gestured to her suit, “is a blessing in disguise. It makes up for it, I promise.”  


“I just don’t get it,” Ladybug mused. “You’re a great partner, and a good friend. I guess I’m just....surprised.”  


“Yeah,” Queen Bee sighed. “Me too.”  


It was a limitation of their partnership -- there was only so much they could do to help each other. Sometimes Chat Noir seemed so horribly mad at someone that it kept him quiet during patrol. Sometimes Volpina came to fights so tired and exhausted, but she forced herself to fight anyway. Ladybug wanted to reach out, wanted to help in some way....but there were parts of each other that just had to stay a secret. It created such a frustrating gap between all of them that was close enough to grab, but still so impossible to reach. It was times like these where Ladybug wanted to help, and didn’t quite know how. 

Ladybug grabbed Queen Bee’s hand and rubbed her thumb over her knuckles. They turned to each other at the same time and Ladybug smiled reassuringly. “You’re my friend,” Ladybug assured. “A precious friend. And I care about you. And you’re important to me. I guess that might not fix anything, but. I just wanted you to know that.”

Queen Bee looked sad all of a sudden. “You wouldn’t think that if you met me in person.”

“Well....I guess neither of us know how true that is,” Ladybug replied. “I don’t expect you to tell me your life story. That’s your business, and it should stay that way. But if you ever feel like you don’t have anything to go back to....I’m here. Chat Noir and Volpina too. We’re always here for you. We’re a team. We have to be.”  


Queen Bee’s grin showed all of her teeth, and it made her eyes look soft against the harsh, dark lines of her mask. “Thanks.”

Ladybug smirked. “Come on. You want a hug. I can see it.”

Queen Bee rolled her eyes but leaned over to wrap her arms around Ladybug and rest her head against her shoulder. Ladybug hugged her back fiercely, hoping that all of her sincerity and all of her appreciation for her could get across that way. Queen Bee stayed there for a long while, almost relishing in the feel of being so close before she pulled away, already looking just a little brighter and a little more content than she did before. 

Ladybug let Queen Bee link her arm with hers as she laid back down and moved closer to her, their sides flush against each other. “So. Where’s this pancake constellation of yours?”

“God, I don’t know, that was so long ago.”  


Queen Bee leaned her head on Ladybug’s shoulder. “Oh please, I bet you were so proud of that. You know exactly where it is.”

Ladybug didn’t even have to make an effort to lean her temple against the top of Queen Bee’s head. It felt natural and right -- something simple and intimate between two good friends. “I don’t know! Honest. I mean....I might know where the pineapple one is.”

“I’m so telling Chat and ‘Pina about this. This is adorable.”

“I told you I was just a kid.”  


“Doesn’t change the fact that it’s adorable. Come on! Food constellations! Let’s go!”  


“Ahhhh, hold on, hold on, I’m looking for it....”  



	6. New Haircut

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloe decides that it's time for a bit of a change.

“You promise you’re not going to fuck this up?”  


Marinette held one of her combs in between her teeth while she stood behind Chloe and passed a leave-in through her damp hair. “Give me some credit, will you?”

“I’m just saying,” Chloe lectured as she stared at her reflection in her vanity mirror. “This isn’t like doing my nails or my makeup. You can’t undo this. And if you make me look like an idiot, I will skip breaking up with you and go straight to murdering you.”

“I cut Rose’s hair when she decided to go short. You do remember that, right? Plus I give Alix, Juleka, and Alya trims all the time.”  


“Yeah but this is _my hair._ A higher degree of discretion and caution is automatically required.”  


Marinette started to pull out any last tangles from Chloe’s hair and chuckled. “Do you want me to do this for you or not?”

Chloe puffed out her cheeks and groaned while Marinette chuckled at her expression. Chloe had been talking about cutting her hair short for months. Something about wanting to embrace the whole gay thing and get her stereotypical “lesbian pixie cut” so that she’d be able to stick out and not have to defend the fact that she was actually a lesbian. Apparently, her aesthetic seemed to throw people off and she told Marinette -- and she was quoting here -- “it was either the haircut or the flannels, and like _fuck_  am I wearing flannels just so girls will talk to me.”

Marinette kept trying to tell her that the whole “lesbian aesthetic” thing was stereotypical crap and that she didn’t need to do anything to fit in or prove anything to anybody. Besides, she was dating Marinette already, and Marinette certainly had no complaints in regards to Chloe’s looks. Quite the opposite actually. Chloe seemed to have at least conceded that point to Marinette, but the appeal of a short cut still managed to stick. She kept talking about still wanting to do something different with her look before lycée started, and kept texting sample pictures to Marinette while insisting that she’d definitely be able to pull it off. 

So, when Marinette came over to Chloe’s house today for a sleepover, she impulsively proposed that they just cut her hair now and get it over with so that Chloe wouldn’t have time to talk herself out of it. 

Chloe’s leg started shaking as Marinette parted her hair in three and started to clip up sections on the top of her head. “Mmm, my heart is racing.”

Marinette smiled. “Sounds like nerves. Have you changed your mind?”

“No,” Chloe said, trying to sound sure. “I still want you do to it. But....ugh, it feels like you’re cutting off a limb. My hair’s never going to be this long again.”  


“Hair is just hair, you know. Plus short hair is so low maintenance. Gives you more time to focus on makeup and clothes, two of your most favorite things in the world. Win-win.”  


“Still,” Chloe whined.   


Marinette settled her hands on Chloe’s shoulders and made eye contact with her through the vanity mirror. “Does it help if I tell you that I think you’re going to look absolutely adorable with this new cut?”

Chloe smirked. “That....does help, actually.”

Marinette snorted and kissed the top of her head, and glanced at the reference photos that Chloe had taped around her vanity mirror. “I got you, don’t worry. I’m gonna make you look good.”

“I trust you,” Chloe sighed out.   


Marinette pulled the scissors out of her pockets and snipped them a few times. “Want to close your eyes?”

Chloe nodded frantically and shut her eyes tightly while Marinette picked up one section of hair and measured out about five inches away from Chloe’s roots. She lined the scissors up and quickly snipped off about a foot of hair while Chloe yelped in response. 

“You okay?” Marinette grinned, moving to the next section to cut off another foot of hair.   


“Yeah, no, doing great,” Chloe grumbled, eyes still shut firmly. “Absolutely fantastic.” 

“You’re so dramatic.”  


“Uggghhhhh, just tell me when you’re done.”  


“I won’t take long don’t worry.”  


Marinette kept her hair short in the back and kept the top layers of her hair long enough to just brush against her ears, like in the pictures she showed her. Marinette figured Chloe would appreciate keeping her bangs, so Marinette kept them long in the front for her too. It took her half an hour to get the layering just right so that when Chloe’s hair dried, it would still keep all the volume that Marinette secretly envied Chloe for. Then again, Marinette had to really be honest with herself and admit that this was a little bit of a gratuitous project. Something about Chloe with a short haircut was oddly enticing, and she was hoping that she was doing the proper work to make her look stunning. 

Marinette took a dryer to Chloe’s hair and had to hold in her squeal of excitement when it turned out exactly he way she’d hoped it would. She took her scissors to clean up her cuts a little bit and passed a couple more serums through Chloe’s hair to finally finish up, all the while Chloe was still keeping her eyes shut and drumming her hands against her lap while Marinette worked. Marinette took a towel and started brushing off the stray hair from the back of Chloe’s neck. “Still with me?” she asked. 

“Mm,” Chloe mumbled. “My head feels lighter. And my neck and my ears feel cold.”

“That’s probably because of the lack of hair,” Marinette said. She kept running her fingers through it -- half to fix how it was falling, and half just because she was _really_  in love with this hairstyle. She was going to quickly become addicted to this. “I’m pretty much done anyway. Wanna see?”  


“How does it look?”  


Marinette bit her lip. “Really.... _really_  good.”

“Really?”  


“Open your eyes and look.”  


Chloe bounced in her chair a little bit before she finally opened her eyes and blinked in the mirror as if she didn’t recognize herself. Marinette laughed brightly and put down her scissors and her brush while Chloe leaned in close to the mirror and started running her fingers through her hair much like Marinette had been doing. She looked shocked for a long minute before a smile started to form on her face, and she even tried shaking her head to see how her locks moved. Chloe giggled at her reflection and sighed out. “Holy fucking shit, darling, you are a miracle worker.”

“You like it?”  


“I _love_  it, I look hot as hell!” Marinette snickered into her hand as Chloe spun around quickly, moved around the chair, and wasted no time cupping Marinette’s jaw in both hands so she could pull her in for a kiss. The gratitude was rolling off of Chloe in waves, and Marinette wound up just laughing against Chloe’s lips instead of kissing her back like she was supposed to. But Chloe didn’t seemed to mind because she pulled away and was positively beaming. “This was such a good idea.”  


Marinette’s hands slid up Chloe’s hips and laced together against the small of Chloe’s back. “I told you I had it covered.”

Chloe’s eyes widened in delight. “Let’s cut your hair!”

“Oh my God, no, I wouldn’t look good with this style,” Marinette told her. “My face is too round. Maybe something else...”  


Chloe pouted. “But then we’d match. We’d be the kickass-iest couple ever.”

Marinette frowned. “I thought we already were.”

“Eh. Our aesthetic could use a little work. And by ours, I mean yours.”  


Marinette smacked her in the arm and Chloe grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it. “I’m kidding! I’m kidding. Kind of,” she winked. 

“You’re lucky I sort of like you and stuff,” Marinette said with an eye roll. She paused in thought before reaching a hand up to touch Chloe’s hair again. “Can I try something?”  


“Try what?”  


“I wanna test out your new hair.”  


Chloe lifted a brow. “Test it....out.”

Marinette nodded. “Mmhm. See how it functions in real world conditions.”

“Such as...?”  


Marinette licked her lips, gripped the now short hair on the back of Chloe’s head, and pulled her in for a much slower kiss. Chloe groaned into it and wrapped her arms eagerly around Marinette’s neck while Marinette’s fingers massaged slow, gentle circles into Chloe’s scalp. And _oh yeah_  Marinette could definitely get used to this. Chloe always complained that she could never make out with Marinette without her hair getting messed up because Marinette couldn’t keep her hands off of it. Unfortunately for Chloe, the shorter length wasn’t at all detracting Marinette from the habit. If anything, it seemed like Marinette was going to be indulging in it a lot more often. 

She wound up backing the two of them up against Chloe’s bed so that she could pull Chloe on top of her. Chloe settled herself snugly on top of Marinette’s hips and hummed against her lips when Marinette started dragging her fingers gently along Chloe’s bare thighs. Her fingernails dug into the backs of her legs, and Chloe’s yelp dissolved into a moan as she rocked her hips forward and left Marinette sighing into Chloe’s neck. 

Chloe was already kissing across Marinette’s collarbone and brushing her tank top strap off her shoulder when Marinette smirked. “Look at that! Your hair doesn’t get in my face anymore when we make out!”

“Oh my god,” Chloe snorted into her skin. “ _That’s_  what you’re getting out of this?”  


Marinette pouted her lips. “I will miss you in ponytails though. Easy to just grab your hair in the middle of things and -- ”

“You’re a pervert,” Chloe chided, covering Marinette’s mouth with her hand.   


Marinette shrugged and kissed Chloe’s palm. She moved her lips up until she was kissing the tips of her fingers and gave a playful bite when she got to the very top of her index finger. “I think we need to do more experiments.”

“With my new hair, yes?” Chloe teased.   


“Mmhm.” Mairnette curled a leg around Chloe’s and deftly flipped the two of them over so that Chloe was on her back and Marinette was now moving her hips slowly against Chloe’s. “For example, I love how your hair looks spread against your pillows. It’s quite lovely.”  


Chloe blushed at the compliment and teasingly knocked her knee against Marinette’s waist. “Guess you’re staying over again?”

“Thought you’d never ask,” Marinette grinned. “We still need to see how your hair looks against the pillows you keep at the foot of your bed, too.”  


“Oh, so we’re testing out all of them.”  


“Indeed. Just to make sure I cut it right. Could take a while. Maybe a few hours. Maybe all night. Very luck that it’s a Friday.”  


“Very lucky that Daddy’s not home,” Chloe winked.   


Marinette blinked in shock and pretended to look scandalized. “And _I’m_  the pervert.”

“If you wanna make good time, you better hurry up and keep kissing me.”  


Marinette didn’t put up a single bit of protest when Chloe yanked her down and reconnected their lips. Spending Friday night like this? There was no way she could complain about that. 


	7. Frenemies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloe and Marinette's friendly competitions are always the highlight of the morning.

“Round 20, Bourgeois!”  


Marinette slammed open the classroom door and dramatically pointed at Chloe who was sitting quietly in her seat for once, answering her text messages and catching up on the homework she didn’t do last night. Chloe looked up in disinterest until she realized that it was Marinette issuing her a challenge. Chloe immediatley brushed her books onto Sabrina’s desk and slammed her hand down on the table. “You’re getting your ass kicked today, Dupain-Cheng.”

“Judges!” Marinette called as she dropped her bag off at her desk and went to stand in front of Chloe’s. “Front and center.”  


Nino groaned and slumped in his chair. “Uggghhh, I don’t wanna do this. This has been going on for over a month.”

“Say what you want, this is hilarious,” Alya snickered. “Let’s hope it ends today.”  


"Keep saying that, and you’ll jinx it,” Adrien warned.   


Sabrina laughed when the three of them came over. “Alright, everyone. Rules have not changed. In the event of a tie, we’ll get a neutral party to split the vote. Agreed?”

Nino, Alya, and Adrien each held up a hand and swore. “Agreed.”

“Alright, Marinette,” Sabrina smiled. “You go first.”  


Marinette slammed her hand on the table right next to Chloe’s. “Matte red polish. Ladybugs and roses for the nail art. Rhinestones on the accent nail.”

Chloe smirked. “Tri-color glitter-infused gradient with bumblee nail art on the accent nail.” 

“Jesus Christ, Marinette, how long did you spend on that nail art, that is intricate as hell!” Alya asked.   


“Four hours. Didn’t get any homework done. Not important.”  


Sabrina blinked. “Since when did you start doing triple color gradients?”

“Since last night. It took seven tries to get right. It’s whatever.”  


"Alright guys,” Sabrina sighed. “Votes in.”

Adrien went first. “I vote Marinette. That nail art is next level ridiculous.”

Alya winced. “I’m....actually gonna have to go with Chloe. Sorry babe, but that gradient is immaculate.”

“I’m actually gonna have to go Marinette on this one,” Sabrina said reluctantly. “Oh your nails are wonderful Chloe! But look at that detail on Marinette’s roses!”  


“Are you guys freakin’ seeing the gradient this chick did?” Nino gaped. “Plus the glitter _and_  the nail art? Chloe’s got this one.”  


Chloe rolled her eyes. “Are you guys seriously trying to tie us up right now?”

Marinette snickered. “You’re just mad because if we tie that means I win.”

Chloe snarled. “Kim! Get your ass over here!”

Kim perked up in his seat. “Oh shit, am I the tie breaker? Sweet!”

“You have to take this seriously,” Marinette begged him. “Just...tell us which one is better.”  


Kim had been waiting weeks to be the tie breaker, so he practically sprinted over to Chloe’s desk and stroked his chin dramatically as he mulled over the decision with the utmost care. “Alright, well Mar-Mar’s got that sick flower-bug thing going on, which I respect. But Chloe’s got the whole like yellow-orange-red thing going on which is like...a sunset on nails. That’s pretty chill. So it’s a close one...”

Chloe rolled her eyes. “Oh my God, does he even know what he’s talking about?”

“The rules say the tie breaker has to be neutral and unbiased,” Adrien reminded. “Kim’s perfect.”  


They waited in anticipation for Kim to come to his decision. After darting his eyes back and forth between their hands, he stood up straight and crossed his arms happily. “Gonna have to give it to Chlo, dudes. Sorry.”

Chloe stood up in her seat and pumped her fists in the air. “YES! Fucking bite me, Marinette!”

Kim did a little bow and went back to his seat. “My work here is done.”

“What the hell are you cheering about?” Marinette glared at Chloe. “That puts us at 10 wins each. We have to do ten more rounds now. We can’t stop until there’s a winner.”  


Everyone around them groaned. “No,” Nino practically begged. “Please. Just end it. You guys are _tied_. That’s a good thing.”

“No, no, no!” Chloe interrupted him. “She’s right. There’s no sense in coming this far only to accept a tie. Ten more rounds.” She held out a hand to Marinette. “I respect the nail art, though. Best one yet.”

Marinette lifted her chin proudly and shook Chloe’s hand. “One day, I’m going to perfect my gradients, and then I’m going to give you a run for your money.”

Chloe winked. “I’ll be waiting. Oh by the way. Picked up your coffee.”

“ _Yes!”_  Marinette cheered. “Thank you, thank you.”  


Marinette happily sat on top of Chloe’s desk as Chloe handed over a paper coffee cup from the cafe next door to the school. It had ‘ _For Marinette :)’_  scribbled in Chloe’s script on the side, and Marinette even patted the top of Chloe’s head affectionately as she blew the steam away from the top. Adrien gestured to the scene in front of them. “How do they do that?”

“Do what?” Sabrina asked.   


“You know. Going from ‘ _i will haunt your children and your children’s children for all eternity for this offense’_  to ‘ _omg btw i got you coffee’_?”  


“You can’t question these things,” Sabrina shrugged. “That’s just how they are.”  


“You know the two of them and their coffee,” Nino added. “Not surprised that’s the first thing they bonded over.”  


Marinette was in the middle of taking a huge sip from her cup when she froze and widened her eyes. She darted them menacingly in Chloe’s direction who was cradling her chin in her hands and staring up at Marinette sweetly. “Yes, my dear?”

“You put that nasty vanilla syrup in this, didn’t you?”  


Chloe cackled. “Oh silly me, I thought for sure you liked it. _”_

 _“_ Oh my God, it’s disgusting, and I’m not changing my mind about this, you’re the actual worst! Stop trying to convince me it’s good!”

“It’s not good, Marinette. It’s fantastic. I bought you a latte and you’re complaining? What an ingrate...”  


“You put _vanilla syrup_ in it! It tastes like sugar and actual garbage.”  


“See, now that’s just rude.”  


“No, what’s rude is ruining a perfectly good cup of coffee with this confectionary crap.”  


“ _You’re_  confectionary crap!”  


Alya was hanging onto Adrien’s desk and laughing until tears were coming to her eyes. “Oh my God, I think it’s hilarious,” she said in between breaths. “It’s like watching two cats cuddle in the corner and then one of them just scratches the other across the face out of nowhere. See, _this_ is entertainment.” 

“This is whiplash is what it is,” Adrien complained. He massaged the side of the neck. “Seriously. Feel my neck.”  


“I think it’s...sweet,” Sabrina mused. “I mean, at least they’re not being cruel to each other. Just...bickering. It’s refreshing, actually. I always said that the two of them would be good friends. They were always just so prickly towards each other.”

“I have other ideas, but yeah, friends works too I guess.”  


Nino frowned and turned to Alya. “What does _that_  mean?”

Alya shrugged. “I never bought into the whole frenemy thing when it came to these two. Occam’s Razor, my friends. Simplest explanation is usually the best.”

“Wait, so what’s the simpler explanation?” Adrien asked.   


Sabrina’s eyes widened and her face split into a huge grin. “ _OH!_ I see where you’re going with this. Totally agree.”

“Thank you!”  


“Waaaaait,” Nino interrupted. “I’m lost. What are you guys talking about?”  


Adrien raised a hand. “Yeah, same, I’m confused.”  


“For two girls that supposedly don’t like each other, they spend a _lot_  of time together,” Alya mused.   


“Plus there are just these little....moments,” Sabrina added. “They’re oddly affectionate sometimes. You ever see them when they’re -- ”  


“Yes!” Alya exclaimed. “And when they’re in class together and they do that -- ”  


“That _thing!”_ Sabrina giggled. “Oh wow, I’m so glad I wasn’t the only one who noticed.”  


Adrien stared at the ceiling. “What. Are. You talking about?”

Nino whispered to Adrien. “I think it’s a girl thing. I don’t know...”

“Oh, by the way, Chloe,” Marinette had piped up, unaware of the conversation happening just a few feet from her. “Before I forget. I finished knitting those thigh highs for you.”  


Chloe gasped and smiled. “Yes! Thank you, ugh, I was getting so annoyed. I don’t know where I put my other ones.”

“It was quick don’t worry. Just let me know if they don’t fit, and I’ll adjust them for you. Hope the cream color is okay.”  


“No, these are perfect, don’t even worry about it at -- ” Chloe stopped mid-sentence, narrowed her eyes, and slowly turned her head towards Marinette. Marinette meanwhile was posing dramatically on Chloe’s desk, whistling innocently.   


“I hate you,” Chloe snarled.   


Marinette dissolved into hysterical laughter. “What? I thought you liked them!”

“I see the embroidery you did on the hem, you damn jerk!”  


Marinette pressed a hand to her chest. “I’ll have you know, I spent a lot of time and put a lot of care into that embroidery. I find it rude that you’d say such horrible things about it.”

Chloe stretched out the hem of one sock and shoved it into Marinette’s face. “It says ‘ _MARINETTE IS GOD’_ on them, what in the actual hell?”

“Yeah, where’s the lie?”  


Alya sunk down to the floor, cackling too hard for her to even speak. Sabrina was hiding her smile behind her scarf while Adrien and Nino were gaping at the design. “You did not,” Adrien laughed. 

“More interesting question: is Chloe going to wear the socks?” Nino joked.   


“I made them just for you!” Marinette defended as Chloe reached across the desk to try and push her off. “Don’t be mean!”  


“This is not what I asked for!” 

“No!” Marinette demanded, breathless in between her laughter. “I expect you to wear it! I made that with love!”  


“I swear to God I’m going to fucking graffiti my net worth onto your locker so you can know exactly who you’re dealing with.”  


“Cool, I can sell it for that much on the Internet.”  


“Get off my desk!”  


Chloe was whacking Marinette on the leg with one of her notebooks while Marinette stubbornly planted herself on the desk, unwilling to move. Sabrina sighed. “You do realize Chloe’s going to wear those socks all the time, right?”

Alya smiled. “And you know Marinette is totally going to drink all of that coffee even though she hates it.”

“And Chloe’s gonna go home to learn more nail art....”  


“...and Marinette is going to look up more gradient tutorials.”   


They both laughed when Chloe and Marinette fell into a slapping match that forced Adrien and Nino to move in and try to separate them. Alya bumped her elbow with Sabrina’s. “Good to know that at least there are two of us who know what’s going on.”

“Well, we’re not as oblivious as these two,” Sabrina shrugged. “Don’t worry. They’ll figure it out soon enough.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading everyone! Stay tuned for the next Femslash series!

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me at breeeliss.tumblr.com


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